Tokyo Olympics 2020: Sweden's Armand Duplantis eases into pole vault final

World record-holder Armand Duplantis sailed through qualification for the men’s Olympic pole vault on Saturday — a competition missing his arch-rival Sam Kendricks, who tested positive for coronavirus. Duplantis was one of 14 men to go through to Tuesday’s final after clearing 5.75 metres at the Olympic Stadium. The 21-year-old Swede, known as “Mondo”, had one blip at 5.50m, but will be the odds-on favourite to claim Olympic gold. Two-time world champion Kendricks was withdrawn from the Games after his positive test, a fate that also befell Argentina’s German Chiaraviglio. France’s Renaud Lavillenie, the 2012 gold medallist who won silver in Rio, did not make it easy for himself, failing twice at his entry height of 5.50m before going over at the third attempt. There was no such luck for Poland’s Pawel Wojciechowski, the world champion in 2011, who bailed out at the same height. Joining Duplantis and Lavillenie will be reigning Olympic champion Thiago Braz, who won gold on home soil in Rio. Poland’s Piotr Lisek and US pair Christopher Nilsen and Kc Lightfoot also went through along with Ernest Obiena, bidding to become the first track and field athlete from the Philippines to win an Olympic medal for 85 years. Duplantis is the only man to have gone over six metres this year, but there are four through who have reached that milestone outdoors at some stage in their careers.